Cambridge University engineering undergraduate student Sushant Achawal spent some time here at C4DI during a summer placement. He worked with our innovation team and NFIRE Labs founder Alex Youden on a project designing a camera for Siemens. The aim of the internship was to design a camera mount which only allowed the camera to rotate but kept it fixed in all other directions. Sushant reflected on his initial progress: “because of stringent size restrictions and Alex Youden's high standards, the project was extremely challenging.” A few days were spent thinking about how the different movements could be allowed and then a couple more about how the same movements could be restricted. In the end, after a few ideas were produced, a solution was finalised which used pre-cut circular arcs drawn from the center of the camera lens. This allowed the whole unit to simply slide into the camera box and then be fixed down easily.

This project allowed Sushant to build upon existing 3D design skills whilst also designing in a new environment (SketchUp), as well as learning about how designs reflect the function they intend to perform. He explained: “An observer should be able to say why each part of the design looks as it does by thinking about the function it performs.” Alongside these design skills Sushant mentioned a few other engineering skills he was able to develop during his four weeks at C4DI. These included, but were certainly not limited to, wiring and mechanics by assembling a 3D printer, as well as experience in storing memory from an Arduino by working on a data-logger. Sushant summarised his experience: “My time at C4DI has been rewarding and most importantly thoroughly enjoyable - I look forward to coming back in the term time holidays.”